


Let's See How Far We've Come

by bowlingfornerds



Series: long fics [13]
Category: The 100
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Brotp, Come on, Disability, F/M, Fluff, I love Raven, Love, Raven finding her way in the world, Slow Burn, Who doesnt, all from raven's POV, cheating asshole finn, games night, i'm cool with it, kind of long, turned into a monster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 14:56:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4226181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowlingfornerds/pseuds/bowlingfornerds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To her wedding vows, she responded "hell no".</p><p> </p><p>Raven is faced with a cheating fiancé, a new job and a new home, with practical strangers. As she tries to turn her life around, she realises that moving to Ark was the best decision she'd made in a long, long time. She even finds a guy with a sarcastic smile that she thought she left in her past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Think It Turned Ten O'Clock But I Don't Really Know

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from 'Let's See How Far We've Come' by Matchbox Twentytwo, mainly because I couldn't think of anything appropriate and it was stuck in my head.
> 
> I started writing this piece ages ago, and finally decided to pick it up again, instead of reading it during Religious Studies whilst I'm supposed to be doing work. I'm happy with it, I like it, so please enjoy.

To her wedding vows, she responded "hell no".

It had the desired effect, Raven thought, as she heard the gasps and murmurs of the congregation. The priest, to her left, coughed and looked between the two of them - bride and groom, never to be wed. And standing right in front of her, Finn stood, wide-eyed and afraid. It made her smirk to see him that way.

She turned from him, tugging the veil that she didn't want to wear from her head and dropped it on the ground. As she walked, she hopped slightly, pulling off her shoes and letting them go, relishing in the sound of them clattering on the church's floor.

"What?" She heard Finn call after her. "Why?" Raven had been waiting for this, and she turned, cruel smirk planted firmly on her face.

"I could ask you the same thing," she responded. "But instead, I would be questioning why you’ve been shagging a girl from three towns over." The congregation grew louder and Raven turned again, stomping up the isle and balling her fists into the fabric of her dress. She'd spent a lot of money on that dress before she found out about Clarke. Actually, she corrected herself, she'd spent a lot money on the whole day.

She held up a hand in front of her, pushing open the door of the church that lead her out to the bright, gleaming sky. She had given in to every one of Finns wishes for the wedding - really, he was the one who had wanted it, not her. He had wanted the church and the flowers; the dress and the music. She had suggested eloping at the closest courthouse. Finn had brutally disagreed.

Outside, she winced in the sudden sunlight, holding up a hand to stop the rays from hitting her face. She had been planning the breakup of the wedding for three days. In that time, she had sneakily cancelled the reception, the band, the food. Finn had no clue. She had no doubt in her mind that she was going to break up with him. Raven just preferred the idea of doing it publically; in front of his entire family.

Outside the church, parked haphazardly across the pavement and road was a dirty blue truck. She had seen its potential the moment she saw it parked neatly in the drive way of her new friends home. And there, leaning against the car with her light hair tied up and her shades across her eyes, stood Clarke.

"You ready, Reyes?" She asked, a smirk on her face.

"As I'll ever be, Griffin," Raven grinned

Finn came running out of the church only seconds later, followed by groomsmen and his parents. Raven hadn't told anyone who was involved with the wedding that she was dumping Finn that day, and so she was surrounded fairly quickly by a lot of questions - Finn being the loudest of all.

"Raven, I love you - why are you doing this?"

"Because you don't love me," she replied indifferently.

"Of course I do! I'm marrying you!" She shook her head.

"You used to be marrying me. Not anymore, Finn. You don’t love me the way I love you – the way I deserve to be loved. You don’t love me the way you love her." Raven jabbed a thumb back in the direction of Clarke.

"Howdy," the blonde said, giving a two fingered salute. Raven glanced back at her friend, who was opening the driver’s side door and stepping into the truck. She turned back to Finn, who was watching her with sadness and guilt mixed in his eyes. His annoyingly beautiful eyes.

"It's over, Finn," she said, before turning and walking to the truck. She opened the door and climbed in, pulling the skirt of her dress safety inside vehicle before slamming the door shut. Sighing, she looked over at Clarke and nodded.

Immediately, the truck roared to life, and Raven couldn't focus on the sound of the old, clunky engine that purred underneath the hood, only the look she had seen in Finns eyes.  Clarke stood up in her seat, leaning out the window.

There, she held her middle finger up at the crowd that left the church. But also at Finn. "Asshole!" Clarke yelled. Raven smiled as her friend sat back down. Clarke pressed her foot to the pedal and Raven felt regretful straight away. But as they drove off, she didn't look back once.

 

\---

 

They drove for over an hour, passing through three small towns before reaching Clarke's home in the town of Ark. She lived there with her three friends, unable to afford her own place on the small salary she earned as an art teacher at a community college. Raven had changed during the car ride; tugging off her dress and leaving it in a pile by her feet, after Clarke untied the corset back during a red light.

She had changed into the joggers and t-shirt that Clarke had thought to bring along, and smiled at the comfort of the clothes, slightly too big for her. Clarke was her size, but she often bought clothes a size or two up; adjusting for the wider hips and the ease of pulling on a slightly bigger top.

Raven had only seen Clarke's house for the first time a few days before, when she had stormed up to it, after slamming the door of her car. She had banged on the door, not stopping until it opened. When it did, Clarke wasn't standing there, but a taller, slightly muscular man who would have intimidated her more, if not for the alcohol that she had poured down her throat in the half an hour that she sat in her car, building up the nerve.

She had asked for Clarke and the man - who she later learned to be called Bellamy - had walked off and fetched her. The moment Clarke appeared, Raven had planned to slap her. She had planned to tackle her to the ground and break her bones, pulling out her hair and making her regret everything she'd done. But she stared at the girl; shorter, paler and blonder than her, and she'd lost her nerve. She stared at Clarke, willing herself to attack, but instead broke down at the thought of the love of her life having to travel over an hour to have sex with another woman, instead of being content with her.

Clarke had been unnaturally nice to a woman who was crying at her doorstep, and immediately invited her in. For Raven, the next hour was a blur of faces and words. She had realised that Clarke didn't live alone, but with her best friend, her best friend’s older brother, and his best friend. She had explained the situation over a glass of water; the hurt that she was feeling, the fact that her fiancé was in love with someone else. And although Raven took over forty minutes to say that the affair had been with Clarke, the blonde had picked it up quickly, pulling a bottle of wine out from the cupboard and drowning her sorrows next to her.

Raven hadn't expected to like Clarke. But she did, immediately. Even more so when Clarke left the same day to break up with Finn on their date that night. Raven hadn't been there, but the report she received was that he left with a lot more food covering him than when he arrived.

 

\---

 

Now, as Raven climbed down from the truck and her bare feet hit the hot Tarmac of the road, she was nervous. Over the course of the morning, Octavia, Bellamy and Miller - Clarke's housemates - had gone to Raven and Finn's apartment and emptied it of everything she owned. And maybe they had trashed some of Finns stuff while they were at it.

She would be crashing at their home for a little while longer, as she figured out where to live, but she was impressed by their automatic hospitality.

Bellamy was in the living room when they arrived; the room the door opened into. He sat there amongst the boxes of her things, his feet on the coffee table and his finger twirling Raven’s keys. He chucked them to her when they walked through the door. Clarke looked over his shoulder as she walked past, to the newspaper he had open on his lap. As Raven got closer, he held it up for her.

"I don't want to seem pushy, or say that having you here is equivalent to the plague -" he said, standing up. "Which it’s not - but I've circled some apartment listings that are decent in price and near your work." Raven didn't have a chance to say thank you, because Bellamy often spoke as he left rooms, and he was gone by the time he'd finished his sentence.

Raven looked over at Clarke and her new friend shrugged.

"He's not trying to be rude," she said, reiterating Bellamy’s words. "You can stay here for as long as you need,"

Raven tried to thank her, but Clarke must have caught some of Bellamy’s essence in the time they'd lived together, because she had already left the room. Sighing, Raven sat on the sofa, thumbing at the fabric of Clarke's clothes. She didn't want to admit that she needed to keep these new people in her life, but she felt it all the same. All of her friends had also been Finns - or, really, once they had met, she had dropped the friends she had so she could spend more time with him.

Raven regretted that a lot.

Even, so, she picked up the newspaper and looked through the apartment listings. Annoyingly, her job was an hour away - in the same town of Walden that Finn lived in. She had quit her job at the same time as un-planning the wedding. She never wanted to step foot in Walden again. So, after glancing at the listings, she flicked the page over and stared at the help wanted section. She didn't take any words in, just stared. Inside, she was hurting. She didn't want to live in the same town as Finn anymore; she wouldn't be able to bear the possibility of running into him again. But she couldn't just move to this town, could she? Not where she only knew three strangers, who were only housing her because Clarke had felt pity. She had to get out of this house. Maybe out of this town. She just didn't know where to.

 

\---

 

It was not long later when the other girl who lived in the house walked into the living room. She was gorgeous - which was a clear understatement. Octavia had the look of a girl who had a scar across her heart, and the blood lust for revenge. Her beauty was effortless but killer - as if every man she looked at she planned to bed, and then hide the body. She attracted hoards, and turned them down one by one. Her words were sickly sweet, and only hours later would you notice the sour.

Bellamy was always close to his sister - in every sense of the word. Raven had noticed that they were close by nature, but closer by face. They were so obviously related that the crowds that formed around Octavia would avert the eyes from Bellamy. Even so, Octavia smiled at the sight of Raven. It didn't seem powerful or dangerous - just friendly.

"How did the wedding go?" She asked as she shut the door behind her.

"Thoroughly wrecked it," Raven replied. Octavia grinned.

"Good job. Now, my plan is that we go out tonight - all five of us - and get absolutely wasted. Maybe get you laid." Raven laughed, but Octavia had this set look on her face that told her not to even bother arguing. One way or another, she was going out that night.

She found herself rooting through the boxes that littered the living room, organising them into piles as she searched for her clothes. Clarke had come down, dressed in a tight dress, clutching her shoes, before helping.

"So you're a mechanic?" Clarke asked, rifling through a box of wires and circuit boards. She pulled out a pair of heels, holding them up for Raven.

"Yep," came the response as the shoes were taken from the blonde. "Although while I love fixing crappy cars, I would prefer to fix high tech rockets. We can't all have our dreams, though." She shrugged, digging through a box of jeans and shorts. She didn't recognise a lot of the clothes, but as she picked up a t-shirt with a _Star Wars_ logo, she was definite that it was hers. Finn had hated _Star Wars_. He wouldn't watch them with her, nor accompany her to the conventions (it was something about the battle of it all, she eventually figured out).

"Did you study it at university?" Clarke continues. Raven nods, although she knows she can't see her.

"Yeah, top of my class. I was offered a position at a company - this _really_ _great company_ , along with another guy in my class - but I turned it down." Raven picked up the box and dumped it against the wall. She then opened another.

"Why?"

"Because the company was too far from where Finn lived. I didn't want to be without him, and he didn't want to leave."

"He stopped you from living your dreams?" Clarke asked, carrying a box and placing it on a pile.

"I never saw it that way," Raven said. "He was always really supportive. Sure, we're very different people, but if I liked something, he would support me in liking it. Sometimes he would join in, sometimes he wouldn't. He was a good guy, I was sure of it. Plus, I saw moving in with him as my decision, not one that he made for me."

"So you moved into that apartment with him?" Clarke opened up a box, smiling. "Bingo." Raven straightened and joined Clarke, searching through her dresses.

"No, actually," Raven said, pulling out a small, black dress. ("Ooh, that's nice," Clarke added.) "He lived up North. We moved down here about a year ago, which is ironic, I guess."

"Why?" Clarke asked, pulling out some red fabric.

"Because the job was down here. I passed it up, and then moved down here a year or so later." Raven sighed, taking the dress from Clarke and holding it up against her body. Clarke nodded appreciatively.

"He fucked you right over," the blonde said. Raven nodded, frowning. She had only really had passing thoughts about the situation of her and Finn - she had never stopped to think about it. She knew that on the face of things, she was her perfect guy. But if she looked beneath that, she wouldn't like what she found. Raven had been too scared to look, she knew that now.

 

\---

 

The bar they ended up at was fairly packed. Raven watched in awe as her new friends greeted strangers. It seemed like they knew everyone; a wide group of friends. Bellamy walked at the front of the group with Octavia, drawing a lot of attention from the people around them. They made a hole for them at the bar, leaning against it and letting people ask if they could get them drinks. Raven smirked as they said yes every time.

By the time she reached the bar, arm in arm with Clarke, the bar tenders had laid out an assortment of drinks, none of them touched yet. Miller stood next to Bellamy, hand in pocket, nodding at her.

"Take what you want," Octavia called out over the music. "This is your night!" Raven smiled, leaning forward, as her hand closed around a glass of whiskey. She grinned at the others as they took their own drinks, downing them all in a line.

The night was hazy from there. Octavia set Raven up with every man in sight; pulling her along and letting her meet people - friends and strangers alike. Raven had protested that they could be murderers, but Octavia had laughed, saying that she could at least have a mindless fuck before dying.

Raven danced a lot, though, in her memory, it was a blur of lights and bodies. She remembered seeing Clarke and Bellamy, pressed up against each other, their lips locked. But she also remembered Bellamy kissing another girl and another. And Clarke straddling a man at a table. She danced with Miller, letting him spin her and hold her and do everything that Finn would have done, if he had been there. Only, she liked it more with Miller - because he never suggested that they sit down, or stop drinking. He just laughed and grinned and let her lead them through the music.

She spoke to every man who walked through the door, smiled at each one and left fairly quickly. She may have wanted palate cleanser, to wipe her body clean of Finn, but she didn't want it with any of them. Finn was still on her mind, every time the music changed, or her friends left her alone. She knew exactly what they would be doing, if she'd been married to him. She knew what positions he'd try first; how he wouldn't go down on her unless she went first. She knew he'd take her out to the balcony - he did so every time they had one. She knew to focus on the bad points of what would be happening - of Finn. If she remembered anything good, she didn't know if she would run back to him or not.

Eventually, cold, crisp air hit her lungs. She stood outside in the darkness and Miller smoked. She needed the fresh air, and stood a metre or two away from her friend as she took heavy breaths. Nearby, she could see Octavia leaving the bar, yelling her goodbye to Bellamy. On her arm, she'd chosen the pick of the lot. He was huge; tall, strong, with large muscles and a shaven head. He wore a t-shirt - his jacket having been draped around Octavia’s shoulders - and Raven could see the tribal tattoos that printed his skin.

When they reached her, Octavia leaned forward to give her a hug. "Did you have fun tonight?" She asked. Raven nodded and smiled. She wasn't lying. "So you're not taking anyone home?" Raven shook her head. "Or, letting them take you, considering you live on my sofa?" Raven exhaled with a smile.

"Don't worry, Tavia," she said. "I'm good."

"You better be. I left Lincoln here alone for a good two hours, hoping you'd jump in on the best one in the bar," she told her. A quick glance up at the man told Raven that he was smirking.

"Don't worry," Raven smiled. "He's all yours." Octavia quickly hugged her again before saying goodbye.

"Look after her, Miller!" She called back.

"Will do," he responded. As Octavia and Lincoln disappeared into the darkness, Raven looked over at Miller.

"You don't need to look after me," she said.

"I know," he responded. "You can look after yourself. Doesn't mean I won't be right here, if you need me." It was probably the most she'd heard him say all night, and Raven smiled at him. She was happy she'd chosen to take him out onto the dance floor instead of Bellamy or any one of the strangers. Bellamy would have protected her, sure - but he would've seen her as something in need of protection. Not someone who could protect themselves. She was glad she'd chosen Miller. (That didn’t stop her, later on, when she and Bellamy arrived home, thoroughly drunk, from hooking up in his bed, and then pretending it never happened.)

She watched as Miller dropped the end of his cigarette to the floor, rubbing it out with the heel of his foot.

"You want to go back in?" He asked. Raven nodded and linked her arm through his.

 

\---

 

Even though Bellamy made hints about apartment hunting fairly often, Raven didn't leave their home. She didn't want to be a leech - but there was nothing in the area that she could afford. And she didn't have a job, either. Besides, Octavia, Clarke and Miller were all happy for her to stay. Bellamy was, too - although he wouldn't say it out loud. But he appreciated that Raven had the talks with Octavia when she returned at ungodly hours of the night. He liked that she'd make breakfast for everyone and left it out for them. He even held back smiles every time she asked if he wanted a drink - even though he was out of her way.

So as it neared two weeks after the wedding that never happened, Raven was feeling quite comfy. She'd figured out how to sleep on the sofa without it hurting her neck, and her boxes had almost vanished after Clarke showed her the space in the garage that they hadn't used. Really, Raven was in the garage a lot. It had central heating, a window, as well as enough space for the truck – Bellamy’s truck - that he was trying to fix up, and a desk at the back. She may have slept on the sofa, but the garage was where she spent her time.

She also looked for jobs from in there. Every day she found the newspaper sitting on the counter in the kitchen, with inked circles surrounding listings and hirings in the area. She knew it was Bellamy each time, but she also liked that he had started to loop the ones she could afford - or the jobs she might enjoy. Bellamy was a history teacher at the same community college where Clarke worked in art. He taught the Classics - the Romans and Greeks; the tragedies, the poetry, the myths. He also subbed as the Medieval teacher on some days, too - although he wasn't as familiar with the subject.

As she sat, fiddling with the wires of a remote control monster truck, Clarke told her that they had lunch together most days; that they prepared lessons together and spoke about everything. They'd known each other since they were kids, and although they had their loud (very loud) arguments, they were friends. 

Clarke had left as Bellamy walked into the garage. They smiled at each other as they went but didn't say a word. Bellamy walked over to the desk where Raven sat, and picked up the newspaper.

"Nothing today?" He asked. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Actually, I phoned up the garage you circled- one of the car shops in the area? I have an interview in a few days." Bellamy’s surprise relaxed into a smile.

"That's great Rae," he said. "But if you want to put down the toy, maybe you could help me with the live model." He jabbed his thumb in the direction of his truck and smiled. Raven nodded, holding in her excitement. She'd been dying to get her hands on that truck since she’d seen it outside the house, on the day she confronted Clarke. The engine was old and prone to breaking down, and the four of the housemates tended to use it every day, meaning it had to get into a better shape.

For the next few hours, they stood leaned over the hood of the truck. Raven’s hands moved as if on auto pilot, twisting and pulling at the insides of the car. She knew where the problem lied - which was more than Bellamy could do. And he wouldn't admit it, but he was very impressed. Raven noticed the two of them bonding that day; their mutual love of a truck - Hestia, Bellamy had called it (the goddess of the home and the hearth, he'd explained) - had brought them at least somewhat together.

The next morning, she went into the kitchen as she stretched. Bellamy always got the paper on his morning run, and would circle anything important before going upstairs to shower. Raven picked up the paper, flicking through it until she reached the listings and hirings. She couldn't see a single circle.

 

\---

 

After Bellamy decided that he liked having Raven around, the housemates decided that her sleeping on the sofa wasn't particularly practical. The house, when they'd bought it, was a three bedroom home with an office. They turned the office into another bedroom and they hadn't expected any more people to live with them. Secretly, Octavia had hoped that her brother and best friend were going to be more than their drunken hook ups, so they could rent the room out to someone knew - but the two of them weren't doing much about it.

Raven’s room turned out to be the garage. To begin with, was strange, the group putting up a bed and furniture in the room - but she got used to it. The garage had a door that lead into the living room, and a button that meant she could open the garage door and leave that way. Bellamy’s truck didn't take up much space, when it came down to it, and was often parked in the drive way instead. Plus, she enjoyed having something to work on in the middle of the night when she couldn't sleep.

As it reached a month after the wedding, Raven walked to work. It was just around the corner from where she was now living, and not very cold yet, as the winter slowly approached. She'd gotten the job immediately, and enjoyed working on the cars in the shop. She would've liked to do something more interesting and difficult, but she knew she had to establish herself here in Ark, before she tried to do anything bigger. Only, it was as her next customer opened the door to his car that things changed slightly. It wasn't as much as leaving a man at the altar, but it was still confusing for her.

The silver Mercedes had a dent the size of Ravens head where the boot was. She tilted her head as she looked at it. Meanwhile, the owner climbed out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him.

"If anyone at my work finds out I came to a car shop instead of fixing this myself, I'm never going to live it down." Raven strangely recognised the voice, and her head shot up at the sound. Standing in front of her, with his arms crossed across his chest, was Wick.

Kyle Wick graduated second in their class at university. He was an engineer, technically - while she was a mechanic. And, really, he would've been able to sort out the car very easily. Kyle Wick was blond, with a permanent friendly smirk and sarcastic charm. He got on her nerves very quickly.

"What, a car shop isn't good enough for you?" Raven asked, deciding to play the game. He hadn't yet recognised her, and was taken aback by the outburst. Wick then looked at her properly. His eyes widened in recognition and his lips turned up into a smile.

"Raven Reyes," he said, shaking his head. "How long have you been in town?"

"About a month," she responded, leaning against the counter.

"And you didn't look me up?" He asked, pressing a hand to his chest in mock offence.

"I didn't know you lived here."

"Of course you did," he said, rolling his eyes. "We were both offered positions in the same company. I accepted, remember?" Raven remembered very well, and she was still fairly bitter about the fact that she hadn't.

"I didn't know that company was in Ark," she replied. Wick shrugged.

"It wasn't. But the company expanded. Glo-Tech is getting huge, Reyes, you should've accepted when you had the chance." Annoyed at the turn the conversation was taking, Raven abruptly changed the topic.

"So why'd you bring the car in?" She asked, her face stony. Wick picked up on the change of topic, but covered it quickly.

"Is it not obvious?" He asked. "I have a fucking hole in the back of my car." Raven smirked.

"Can't you fix this yourself, though?" Wick reluctantly nodded.

"Yeah, but I'm slammed with work, and it would just be unnecessary hassle." Raven nodded, running a hand over the dent.

"Well I can fix her up," she said quietly.

"I don't doubt it," he replied. "You were second in the class." Raven raised her eyebrows, turning on him.

"You were second in the class, thank you very much. I came out on top." Wick grinned at her, and she realised it was exactly what he had wanted.

"I remember," he said with a smile. "It's a difficult picture to get out of my mind." Raven swallowed, knowing he wasn't talking about the grades. But after they'd been together once, he turned intolerable.

"Get out of here," she ended up saying. She didn't need anyone flirting with her. She didn't want anyone to, either. "Pick up the car tomorrow afternoon and we'll settle prices then." They both knew she'd give him a discount, although Wick liked to think it was because of that drunken night. It wasn't, but Raven would let him go on thinking whatever he wanted.

After he left, she took a few breaths, leaning against the counter. He was still cute, she noted. But he also said things just to get a rise out of her - and she knew that wouldn't ever change. Besides, she was still fairly torn up about Finn, and although Octavia kept telling her that 'sex is as good as medicine', she had to agree with Clarkes response of 'it's really not, Tavia, don't even consider it if you get ill.  You won't get better.' And she trusted Clarke more on that subject. She had at least started medical school, before deciding to become an art teacher.

 

\---

 

It was later that night that things went from bad to worse. She had fixed up Wick’s car easily - and even taken a peek under the hood. She'd seen a lot of modifications, but she also guessed a few more that she would've made herself. Afterwards, Raven trudged her way home, only to be told by Octavia that the bar waits for no man, and she was to get changed immediately.

The bar was the same one they went to before - the Drop Ship. There, she recognised Lincoln as he kissed Octavia in greeting, and smirked as Bellamy stood a little straighter - with no advantage over Octavia’s boyfriend.

They bought their drinks - Lincoln being a bit too intimidating for people to come up as to buy them - and immediately started dancing. Once again, Raven and Miller’s bodies were pressed together as they moved through the crowd. Their friendship had been growing stronger over the month she'd been living with him, and she found herself liking how little he spoke. He was more of silent type, and she noticed that the looks he gave people spoke a thousand words. He would always sit and listen when she wanted to talk, even handing out little nuggets of advice when he thought appropriate.

It was after they had gotten sufficiently drunk that they went outside. Raven craved the fresh air, and Miller craved a smoke. They stood next to each other, swaying gently on the spot as people walked by. 

Raven was feeling good, she noticed. She was on top of the world, standing next to one of her best friends. She giggled into the night, and instead of saying anything, Miller reached out and took her hand. She spoke about anchors over the next few minutes; imagining she was a ship and he was an anchor, chaining her to the sea bed.

"Why won't you let me float away?" She asked sadly. "I want to be free, I don't want to be stuck." Miller chuckled, stamping out the end of the fag.

"Come on Reyes," he said quietly. "Why don't we go dock for a while?" It was then that things went wrong.

"Raven?" A familiar voice said. Raven turned on her heel, looking for the voice. But she turned too fast and became dizzy, slapping a hand to her forehead.

"Nate," she slurred, leaning back into Miller. "I think the ship has been hit by an undersea torpedo." Raven nodded solemnly to her friend and he smiled. Before he was able to say a thing, the voice spoke again.

"Raven, it _is_ you." Finn walked out into the light with a smile on his face. He looked pleased to be in the vicinity of her again. Then he looked to Miller - and noted him. Not only as Clarke’s housemate, but also as the man holding Raven’s hand. "Miller." The two men nodded at each other, but Finn stopped being civil there. "I can't believe you've already moved on," he said, shaking his head. "You know how much fucking money I was charged with over that damn wedding? And you go and run into the arms of a fucking stranger? "

Raven wasn't sobering up as he spoke, but his words scared her. She muttered nautical puns under her breath, but she was silenced when he stopped forward. "I should have married Clarke," he told her. "I knew I loved her more, but I went for you anyway." Raven couldn't remember Finn having ever been angry before, but the memory of this moment was scalded into her mind.

The love of her life's words burnt her skin. His eyes were enraged and she didn't need to be sober to know that he was drunk. She noticed little things in that moment, like the hickeys on his neck - she wasn't the only one meeting new people - or the fact that he'd cut his hair shorter- even though he'd adamantly refused to every time she'd suggested it. But Finn kept speaking, even though she wasn't really listening.

"... I can't believe I wasted my time on a girl like you," he spat. "I wish you'd have broken up with me sooner, and saved me the trouble." A fist shot out at that moment, landing with the jaw of Finn’s face. Finn staggered backwards, angrier than ever and moving in for a punch. But Finn was drunk and sloppy and Miller dodged it easily before punching him in the nose and landing an uppercut to the chin.

As Finn sat on the floor, bleeding, Miller took Raven’s hand again and led her back indoors.

"I don't need protecting," she insisted.

"I know," Miller responded. "But I told you I'd be there for you, and I am, Reyes." Raven smiled up at him, squeezing his hand through her drunk haze.

"I think the boat sunk," she giggled as they found themselves back amongst the crowd and lights of the Drop Ship.

 

\--- 

 

The next day, when Wick came to pick up his car, he asked Raven on a date. She was instantly stunned, staring at the man for a good few seconds as his words went around his mind. Then she started stuttering. Her words weren't forming and she didn't really have an answer for him. But he got the message loud and clear.

"Forget it, Reyes," he said, holding his hands up in defeat. "Forget I ever asked." Wick turned back to his car and tapped where the dent used to be. "How much do I owe you?"

"Uh, forty five fifty," she said, turning away from him. She was sure her face had turned bright red, but she didn't want to hurt his feelings. She wasn't sure how she felt after seeing Finn the night before, and she wasn't sure if she ever wanted to date again.

She turned around again as Wick shuffled through the wad of notes in his hand. "There's fifty," he said. "Keep the change." Wicks smile was easy, but she only returned a roll of her eyes.

"Four fifty, how generous," Raven said drily. Wick just smiled more.

"Thanks, Reyes," he said, turning away to get in the car. Raven knew she was being stupid, but she also knew that anything she did at this point would probably be stupid. So she jogged the short distance to follow him.

"Wait, Wick." He stopped moving and looked back to her. His hand was on the car door and his foot already inside. He pulled it back out to look at her. "I would go out with you on a date, but-"

"Reyes, you don't need to go into the list of reasons why you don't want to go out with me, it's fine," he said easily.

"No," she said, stopping him as he tried to move. "That's not it. I mean, it sort of is because you're a massive pain in the ass - but it's something else." She watched as Wick eyed her carefully, before gesturing for her to continue. Raven took a breath.

"It's just that a month ago I left my fiancé at the altar," she told him. "And I'm still trying really hard to get over him." Wick nodded silently for a second, and Raven wondered if she'd used the right words. Could she have said something different?

"Okay," he said. "That's fine - is this the guy you turned down the job for?" Raven signed, forgetting that he knew that.

"Yeah."

"And why did you two break up?" Raven glanced around the room, not wanting to look him in the eye.

"He was cheating on me." Wick nodded for a few seconds.

“Okay,” he said slowly. “Well, how about I leave the offer standing?” Raven furrowed her brow in confusion. “When you’re over him, give me a call Reyes.” She watched as he grinned and winked, before climbing smoothly into the car and shutting the door. He then rolled down the window.

“So, friends?” She asked. It was strange, feeling self-conscious and nervous. Raven didn't ever feel nervous. It was also strange that she was nervous over Wick. Because Wick was her mortal enemy - or, at least, he used to be before Finn found someone he liked more than her.

Wick smiled up at her, revving the engine. "Friends," he agreed. "Call me some time, we should hang out." The car inched forward.

"I don't have your number," she said, walking along side it.

"I left my card with the money," he told her before driving down the ramp and out onto the road. She watched as he held up two fingers, in a wave or salute out of the car, before speeding off down the street.

Raven took a few breaths before looking down at the pile of cash in her hand. She flicked through the notes before landing on a small cream piece of card. _Kyle Wick,_ it read. _Senior Glo-Tech Engineer._


	2. And I Can't Remember Caring For An Hour Or So

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second half of the story, and Raven gets to know Wick all over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is from Matchbox Twentytwo's 'Let's See How Far We've Come' (and is the following line from the last chapter).
> 
> So, after being reminded yesterday about Monty and Miller, I tried to add some moments in. There's not many, but it's slightly hinted at - of course, this story is centred around Raven. That means that I've written very little Linctavia or Bellarke, and generally, it's about Raven and her progress.
> 
> So please enjoy.

She saw Wick only a few days later. After mentioning the encounter over dinner (“Oh, my God, Bellamy makes the _best_ carbonara,” Octavia said at least three times), Bellamy told her that he knew the guy pretty well. Back in the days of Bellamy paying his way through his Masters degree by working at a bar, Wick had been his favourite customer. They stayed in touch – but barely.

It was immediately decided that Raven was to invite the guy around for their games night, the following Saturday – and she did so, albeit with a slight reluctance.

So, on Saturday, she found herself out of the garage and in the living room, as the five housemates set up the Mario Kart and the food, waiting for their guests. Octavia had invited Lincoln (although Bellamy complained that his size meant he took up too much space on the sofa), Clarke invited two friends called Monty and Jasper (who both turned out to be in the tech division of Glo-Tech) and Miller invited Murphy (grade A asshole who was better at Mario Kart than she guessed him to be).

Eventually, the ten of them were in the same room; Clarke racing Murphy, Monty and Jasper on Mario Kart (Murphy was winning, even though Monty and Jasper were trying to cheat at every available opportunity), and Lincoln having a game of darts against Octavia and Miller in the corner (the latter of whom kept sending glances over in the direction of the people on the games console).

So it was her, Bellamy and Wick on the sofa, each with beers and trying to call the winner in advance.

“Clarke’s good though,” Bellamy admitted. “And she won’t stop playing until she _does_ win a race.”

“How long does that usually take?” Wick asked.

“A couple of hours,” Bellamy replied with a grin.

“Hey!” Clarke called from the floor, trying to elbow him in the leg whilst not looking away from the screen. Raven grinned into her can, taking another swig of the liquid and letting it bubble against her throat.

“But Monty and Jasper are tech geniuses,” Wick added. “They should be able to play Mario Kart well, right?” Raven laughed.

“I don’t think putting together a circuit board in under three minutes, means that they’ll be able to win with _Daisy_ and _Luigi_ -“

“Arguably the worst characters in the game,” Wick continued.

“ _Arguably_?” She all but cried out. “They were created as sidekicks! And anyone created to be a sidekick is a total loser!” Wick laughed.

“Well, who do you think is going to win, Miss Second-In-The-Class-“

“That’s Miss Top-Of-The-Class to you, Mr Second-In-The-Class,” she replied, holding her nose up in the air, trying and failing to act regal. “And obviously Murphy.”

“Come on.” Wick shook his head. “He may be in first now, but that’s so going to go to his head and make him lose.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Murphy said from the floor at their feet. Raven noticed that Murphy had a knack of keeping his voice fairly monotone in all situations. She wondered if he could teach her that.

“But he’s better at the game.”

“Doesn’t that just say that he doesn’t go out much?” Bellamy asked from the other side of the sofa.

“Can still hear you,” Murphy added from the floor.

“You’re unemployed,” Octavia called, as she plucked the darts from the board. “You have plenty of time to practice Mario Kart.”

“It doesn’t mean I do,” he said as he passed the finish line. Murphy turned to look them, as Clarke’s brow furrowed at her being in fourth place.

“What, so Call of Duty?” Wick asked with a grin. Murphy rolled his eyes.

“Assassins Creed, actually. But that’s irrelevant.” The room was filled with laughter, and Murphy sat there, his face fairly impassive as he shrugged. It only took a few seconds for the others to finish the race and for the conversation to turn to the next track.

 

\---

 

As the night wore on, the house eventually emptied out. Lincoln said that he had an early gym session the next day (Bellamy rolled his eyes in unison with Murphy at that) and both Monty and Jasper decided to leave when they felt slightly too intoxicated to stand. Murphy only left when he watched the two best friends stumble over thin air for the tenth time (Miller may have caught Monty, but not Jasper), and he realised that he would have to be their ride home.

“Don’t leave them in the middle of a field again,” Bellamy warned as he watched the three of them go. Murphy laughed but he wouldn’t promise anything.

“I’m considering dropping them off on the other side of town, and seeing how they do,” he admitted, turning to watch Monty and Jasper, who Miller had led out of the house, as they tried to figure out how to open the doors to the car.

“I don’t understand,” Jasper was muttering.

“I have so many degrees but I can’t figure out how to open the car,” Monty exclaimed, tears in his eyes. Raven laughed, watching from the door way with Bellamy, Miller and Wick. Murphy sighed, walking down the path towards them.

“That’s because I haven’t unlocked it yet, dumbass.” After they’d driven off, Wick shrugged on his jacket and thanked Raven’s housemates for having him (and for all the free food) before turning to her.

“I’m surprised you called,” he admitted when they were out on the front steps. She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms against the cold.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I thought you hated me, so it was a shot in the dark.” Raven smiled softly, watching as Wick rubbed the back of his neck and turned to look at his car.

“I don’t hate you. It’s a dislike, if anything,” she replied. Wick rolled his eyes and said his goodbyes, heading down the front path.

“You did a good job on the car, Wrench Monkey,” he told her as he opened the door.

“Well, obviously. I was top of the class,” she said.

“Second,” he replied, grinning.

“In your dreams,” she called back as he shut the door to the Mercedes. (Only a small part of her wondered if she’d be driving a car like that, if she’d taken the job.)

(Only a smaller part of her wondered if she’d be dating him, if she’d taken the job.)

 

 ---

 

The next few weeks passed in a similar fashion. She would go to work, come home and look at the truck, listen to Octavia beg her to get laid, and invite Wick over for a seemingly useless event, like movie night or the Saturday that Miller and Bellamy made it their mission to build a tree house in the back garden.

(They succeeded – but with a lot of help from a certain mechanic who couldn’t watch them fall out of the tree more than six times.)

(And an engineer who may have pushed them once or twice.)

So, when it came up to two months after the wedding that never happened, Raven was feeling better. She wasn’t over Finn – not by a long shot – but she was feeling like life was going to continue now he was gone.

It was in that spirit that she went to work, one Monday morning, in a good mood.

“What’s got you so happy?” Her boss, Byrne, asked from her office.

“I’m always happy,” Raven retorted. Her boss snorted from where she stood, leaning against the door frame.

“You’re always late, actually. But you’re on time today – so, I repeat, what’s got you so happy?” Raven rolled her eyes, swinging her backpack off her back and letting it fall to the floor at her feet.

“I don’t know – just feeling good about today, I guess.” Byrne smiled, if only a little. Raven was by far her favourite staff member; the rest tended to be forty years old, balding and rude. Raven was like a breath of fresh air.

As the day went on, Raven’s mood barely dampened by the long line of broken cars and people in need of spare tires. So, when she walked home, she was still in a good enough mood to be feeling slightly invincible.

And that was her downfall when she was half way across the road and the car didn’t slow down.

 

 ---

 

When Raven next woke up, it was after a short and fitful sleep in the waiting room of the hospital. She was sat in a wheelchair, gripping the arms and looking out across the room. It’s abnormally packed; an old woman clutched a teddy bear in the far corner, wandering about her space and muttering words to herself. Closer by, was a girl in a black t-shirt, grasping at her wrist, defiantly not crying.

It seemed, since she decided to have a nap, that she was no closer to being called in.

To her left, in the seats, sat Clarke. She had her nose in a book, and hadn’t yet realised that her friend had woken up. After the ambulance arrived, so did Clarke – although the woman at the side of the road, picking up her phone and asking who to call, had suggested the name that read ‘Hubby’ – which Raven had regrettably not changed to ‘Cheating Asshole’ in the months since the wedding. Clarke arrived as the paramedics lifted her into the ambulance and checked her for where she felt pain – her legs mainly, but one was feeling more numb than the other.

Eventually, when they reached the hospital, the line was long, there. The paramedics doubted that there was too much wrong with her – and being in the queue that stretched all the way down the hall wasn’t going to get her medical attention quicker. She agreed to be put in a wheelchair and sit with the other patients in A&E. Besides, when her leg stopped having any feeling, it wouldn’t have helped to be with restless paramedics, dying to get back out on the road.

The lack of feeling is what noted Clarke to her presence, again. Raven cried out, slapping at her leg.

“I can’t feel it, Clarke – I can’t!” She was saying, hitting it and hoping that she would feel the pain. There was nothing. Clarke stared for only a moment with wide eyes, before darting to the nurse in the office, and calling out something about her friend’s situation deteriorating. Raven barely listened as she forced the tears not to fall, and pretended that the people staring at her, were actually watching the TV in the cage above the vending machine. She failed at both, though.

As tears drenched her cheeks, three nurses wheeled her through a door as the prying eyes of the injured didn’t leave her.

 

 ---

 

They gave her a brace for her leg and prescribed a lot of medication for her to take. Raven was assigned to a week of bed rest, and she made it about half way, before becoming entirely bored. It was three days in, when Wick turned up. Raven had lost her phone during the accident, and therefore had been up to other people to contact him. She wondered what had taken him so long.

“It’s been three days,” Wick said as he entered the room, stopping Raven from speaking. “ _Three_ _days_ and I have to hear about it from Monty and Jasper?” She sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

“Bellamy was supposed to phone you,” she replied.

“Why couldn’t you?” Wick sat on her bed, pulling one leg up onto it as he faced her.

“Car crushed my phone,” she shrugged. Wick sighed, and she refused to watch him, and stare at the ceiling instead. There was a spider up there and had been making a pretty complex web for the past three days.

“Sorry, Reyes,” he said at last. She shrugged again before stopping and sitting up.

“If you’re really sorry,” she started with a smile. “Then you’ll get me out of here and take me somewhere.” Wick eyed her suspiciously for a moment.

“Where were you planning?” He asked, and she knew she’d won.

“I didn’t have a specific place in mind – just anywhere other than this bed.” Wick smiled, and Raven took a small amount of pleasure in being the reason. He agreed (Wick was never one for following rules or advice from medical personnel) and stood, holding out a hand for her to take. After pulling her onto her feet, Raven stayed in place as Wick took the crutches and handed them over.

“Use the garage door,” she instructed, nodding over to the button on the wall, and following him out. His Mercedes was parked outside the house, and she climbed in, although realising that the car wasn’t meant for someone on crutches. Even so, she grasped her clutches and smiled as Wick shut her door for her and climbed in his own side.

“Where to, m’lady?” He asked with a cheeky grin. She smiled back before shrugging.

“Anywhere,” she replied. “Anywhere at all.” The drive was filled with Wick’s music (although not entirely terrible, not great either) and the two of them singing along to the words at the top of their lungs. He was a good driver, relaxed and calm, while being entirely safe (even when he increased the speed on open roads). She didn’t know where they were going, but she loved the fresh air that whipped at her face from the open windows, and the trees passing quickly on all sides.

It was once they stopped, about thirty minutes later at a dirty rest stop on the side of the road that he turned to her.

“How’s the brace?” He asked, turning off the music. Raven shrugged.

“It’s not great. The idiots at the hospital have no idea how to make a good one.” Wick smiled and opened his door, jogging around the car to help her out. Raven wanted to make a show of not needing the help, but she liked it. She liked to depend on someone else for the moment.

The two of them bought hot dogs from a greasy van before heading up past the petrol station. Wick carried their food and followed her along the path, to catch her in case she fell (she realised this, and rolled her eyes, but didn’t say a thing) but told her which paths to follow.

After a few minutes, they reached an open space on the side of the hill. There sat a single picnic table, where the two of them landed themselves. The hill overlooked the town of Ark, and Raven stared across it in amazement. She’d seen the hill before, from in the town, but she didn’t know how to get there.

“Impressive, huh?” Wick asked from her side. She nodded, picking up the hotdog from the napkin on the table and taking a bite. She grimaced at the taste, but kept eating anyway. “I found this place when I first got here. The town was getting on my nerves, and meeting people who weren’t working for the company was pretty difficult. I knew practically no one, so I drove my beat up Reno Cleo-” Raven snorted at the sound of his crappy car, like she did in university “- and kept driving until I ran out of gas. This is where I ended up.”

“You come up here often?” She asked, turning from the view to Wick. He nodded.

“Yeah. It’s peaceful. I’ve figured out many a design for something wholly useless up here.” She raised her eyebrows. “Yes, Reyes, this is where the genius happens.” She rolled her eyes and looked back to the town. She was starting to figure out landmarks, and searching for the house.

“Genius,” she muttered. “More like idiocy.” Wick didn’t say anything, but she could tell he was smiling.

 

 ---

 

When she returned home, she sat in the car with him a little while longer, relishing in the silence now the music was turned off. Her eyes were closed, her head tilted back, her crutches standing between her legs. Then, she felt the sensation against her hand, and her eyes opened to see it encased in Wick’s. She smiled at him, before returning to her position.

“You know,” he said eventually, quietly, into the air. “I’m sure I could make a better brace for you.” Raven snorted.

“And why would you do that?” She asked.

“Because it’s what friends do,” he replied. She opened her eyes to look at him – really look at him – and found him already looking back. He was genuine, she could see. Something about his face was calming and genuine and she couldn’t help but smile. She stopped herself, still.

“You don’t need to do that, Wick,” she told him. He shook his head.

“I want to. And I think it’s about time you start calling me Kyle.” She smiled again, shaking her head.

“Over my dead body.”

“Well, I’m sure if we send another car your way, that could be arranged,” he joked. Raven rolled her eyes and the silence enveloped them again. But she broke it this time.

“Thank you for today,” she said. Her voice was soft and quiet, and she looked to Wick, who stared, surprised.

“No problem,” he recovered. “Anytime.” Raven nodded, and with a final squeeze to his hand, reached over to open her door. Wick let himself out, jogging round to her side to help her, and shut the door behind Raven, too. She made her way to the front door, the garage having long been shut, and gave a final wave before letting herself in.

Immediately, Clarke’s head snapped up from the sofa, and by the time the door was shut, she’d rushed over.

“Oh, my God – where were you? You know you have crutches right? It kind of means that you can’t walk properly. Where did you go?” Clarke’s questions hit Raven quickly, but she found herself shrugging them off. Even as Octavia joined, along with the odd question from Bellamy and the pointed looks from Miller, she smiled a little. Not only because she could hear the motor of Wick’s – _Kyle’s_ – car, driving off into the distance, but because her four friends had waited for her (five, if you counted Monty, who was sitting next to Miller for some unknown reason), in the living room, to make sure she was okay.

 

 ---

 

Wick – _Kyle_ – came over a lot after that. The others had quickly figured out that it was him who released Raven from her house sentence (“jailbird,” he’d joked), but they had stopped minding. He came over, and they didn’t always go out, but sit inside and play Mario Kart or card games, or he’d take a look at Bellamy’s truck and give his two pence while she listened. When they did go out, they went to the hill and watched the town keep going without them. He pointed out the house on the second visit, along with his apartment block, a couple of roads away. Another time, he pointed out the office block for the company, although he quickly realised that talking about Glo-Tech was never a good idea.

Raven made it through her bed rest, and then the weeks afterwards, and still, there was no change in her leg – which no amount of physical therapy was changing. It had been three weeks since the accident that Wick – _Kyle_ – arrived with the plastic bag.

“Happy birthday,” he said, walking into the garage without knocking. She noticed that he never knocked. Ever.

“It’s not my birthday,” she replied, sitting up in her bed. Kyle smiled and held out the bag for her anyway. She pulled out the contents; black plastic and metal, with pieces of silver and she stared at it for a moment before looking to her friend.

“A brace,” he said. “As promised.” Raven smiled, handing it to Kyle before reaching down to undo her own. Under his gaze, her fingers fumbled at the straps and by the time she’d managed to pull it off, she was sure she was bright red.

Then, she leant back as Kyle took her leg gently and started to secure the new brace. It was more comfortable, she admitted to herself. But it still had a lot of changes that she could make to make it better. However, it was oddly intimate, as Wick focused so intently on her leg and the straps, double checking each one before looking to her.

Raven held out a hand and Wick helped her up onto her feet, where she trialled the brace, with and without crutches before turning back to his hopeful face.

“What do you think?” He asked.

“It’s a piece of crap, Wick,” she replied. “But thanks,” she added as his face fell a little. She turned away from him, to tighten one of the straps around her thigh. “I might have to make a few modifications to it – but it’s better than the hospital one. That’s for sure.” Raven looked up to Wick’s smiling face and she enveloped him in a hug, before she could rethink it.

He was shocked for a moment, before taking a breath and clutching at her tightly. They stayed together for a moment before releasing and grinning at the other. It had only been three weeks since the accident and almost four months since the wedding that never happened, but it only took another two and a half weeks for either of them to make a move.

 

 ---

 

“Bellamy and Clarke are dating, right?” Wick – _Kyle_ , she reprimanded herself – asked as he followed her into the garage after movie night. It was past three in the morning and her friends (she made _friends_ , she realised again) were too tired to drive themselves home. Lincoln had followed Octavia up to her room as Bellamy blatantly pretended not to notice, while Jasper and Monty were crashing on the sofa bed. Murphy had gone home a couple of hours before, because he finally had a job interview the next day, and Wick had decided to follow Raven back into her room.

“I don’t think so,” Raven replied, landing heavily on her bed. “I think they just act like it.”

“But they’re into each other, right?”

“Oh, totally,” she agreed. “Head over heels – but neither of them would admit it.” Wick leaned against the wall as Raven started undoing the straps of her brace. The doctors had already told her that it was unlikely she’d ever walk without help again – but she’d been getting used to not using the crutches, and she was convinced she could do it, someday.

She’d made a few changes to the brace _Kyle_ made for her, but they weren’t all that important. He’d actually done an okay job on the thing.

Once the brace was off and on the floor, she used her arms to pull herself back into bed, closer to the wall.

“Come on, Kyle,” she said. “You can’t just stand there all night – you look like a serial killer.” He snorted but moved to the bed anyway, reluctantly slipping in beside her. The two were not touching, even though the bed was small and it was starting to get cold – even more so in the garage. They were silent, before Raven turned on her side to face him. He was obviously still awake and he looked over.

It was that moment where her emotions came to a sort of head. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Kyle Wick; only that it wasn’t just in a friendly way. The more she got to know him again, the more she liked him, and she quickly remembered the one night they’d spent together a few years beforehand. But she also remembered how she had to tell him that she preferred him before they had sex. “Right back at you,” he had responded. So, while she felt that this was going to be a mistake, and that she could lose a very important person to her, she also remembered that he _had_ asked her out, a few months beforehand. And if he was all that repulsed by the brace, and the fact that she couldn’t always walk from A to B – he would’ve made it clear already. And not manufactured a new brace for her.

But, all of these things disappeared from her mind when she kissed him.

It was short, their lips pressed together for a second or so before she pulled away to gauge his reaction. All that she saw was him kissing her back, his hands immediately making their way to her waist. Hers drifted up his arms, trailing her nails along his skin before reaching his shoulders. He gently bit down on her lip and she smiled, admitting his entrance and she was wholly convinced, in that moment and after, that this single kiss was better than any of the ones she’d had with Finn.

 

 ---

 

There was only one specifically bad day, when Raven remembers her first month or two in the brace. And that was the day she looked out the window of the living room and stared at the tree house they’d built. Everyone was out at work, so she took her crutches (even though she was kind of capable without them) and went out into the back garden.

The tree house wasn’t a masterpiece, at any rate. It was made out of wood and heart and too many laughs and bruises. She was proud of it, but had only been in it a few times since it was made. And not once since the accident.

Really, she noticed, no one actually went up there. It must have been a quickly-formed dream that was executed within a day and then forgotten about. But, as she stood there in her socks on the damn grass, she suddenly wanted to be up in the tree.

So she went for it.

She moved forward and leaned her crutches against the bark, before tightly gripping the ladder and trying to climb. Only one leg worked for her, so she used a lot of arm strength to hold herself up in between steps.

There was a strain on her arms, and within only two brackets she felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes. How could she be so useless, as to not be able to climb a tree? Let alone a ladder!

Her heart was beating fast and she was suddenly aware that she wouldn’t be able to make it any higher. She wouldn’t be able to climb a tree again, or run again, or figure out that handspring she managed to do once in her first year of university. She wouldn’t be able to hike across South America, or swim with dolphins. She would be constrained; forced to sit at a desk for the rest of her life and do nothing of importance. _Nothing_ she wanted to do.

But before she could climb down again, she fell.

She landed slightly on her arse, slightly on her back and she cried out. Luckily, she wasn’t hurt. Not really. She couldn’t get much worse. So she lied there, at the foot of the ladder, staring up at the tree house she’d never be inside of again. And there, she cried.

Raven Reyes cried and she didn’t care if the neighbours could look out their windows and see her. Because she was in pain, and she was justified to feel shit, look shit, act like a shit. So she cried, and eventually sat up and looked around the garden, and saw the shadows had changed and knew that Miller would be home soon with Octavia not far after.

So she reached out and used her crutches to pull herself up. And she harshly swiped at her face to rid it of wetness, before heading back inside. She locked the back door behind her, landed herself on the sofa and stared at the TV as it played a mind-numbing sitcom she didn’t know the name of.

And when the front door opened and Miller walked in, he smiled.

“Have a good day?” He asked as his form of greeting.

“Just perfect,” she replied.

 

\---

 

Raven found herself back at the Drop Ship, not long after. It was just how she remembered it from before the accident. They didn’t buy their drinks as Bellamy and Octavia took up the front of the group and winked at everyone they locked eyes with. By the time Lincoln, who was at the back of the pack, made it to the bar, the drinks were already being made. (This system was created by Clarke, when she was tired of spending money on their nights out.) Wick was fairly impressed by the entire event, and took a drink just like the others, downing it and heading out onto the dance floor and into the throng of people.

Raven and he danced, even though she couldn’t move as easily. And when he went off to buy her a drink, Miller immediately took his place with a grin. Miller had left Monty – who seemed to be hanging around with Miller more than he did with Clarke – dancing with a few strangers, but Raven laughed through the music and let her friend spin her as much as they could. When Wick returned (he’d agreed that being called Wick by her wasn’t the worst of things – although she still did try to get his name right), Miller leaned in to hug her, before speaking into her ear.

“Tell me if this one turns out to be an asshole, too,” he said. “I’ll make sure another boat sinks.” Raven grinned at him and nodded as he pulled away, nodded to Wick and made his way back to Monty, on the other side of the crowd. Wick handed over a drink and spoke into her ear.

“What did he say?” He asked.

“Just something about shipwrecks,” she responded with a smile. They continued dancing and drinking and through the haze Raven almost forgot about her leg and about Finn, and about the job that she couldn’t return to and the future prospects for her life. All she could definitely remember is that she, Raven Reyes, had Kyle Wick standing, smiling, in front of her, and she was pretty damn lucky for it.

Eventually, they made their way outside and Raven breathed in the fresh air. She always preferred the air in the night to the day time; the crispness, the pure hit of it. She locked eyes with Wick as she smiled over her shoulder and she couldn’t help but feel lucky all over again. But the air was sobering, and she was hit with the thought of no feeling in her leg, and no money coming in.

“You okay?” Wick asked almost immediately, as if he’d watched her face fall. She nodded, turning back to him and limping to where he stood, leaning against the wall.

“Yeah. Just realising that I’m going to have to return to reality at some point,” she explained.

“What do you mean?” He asked. Raven shrugged.

“Get another job, pay bills, figure out the rest of my life around this damn leg.” She didn’t realise that she hit her leg when she mentioned it, but Wick took the offending hand in his anyway.

“Well I’m here for all that,” he told her. “I’ll help you work your way through it.” She rolled her eyes.

“Stop being nice all the time,” she said.

“Sorry, Reyes,” he said with a smile. “It comes with the natural charm.” She rolled her eyes, pressing her lips to his. Each time she kissed him she couldn’t help but feel happy. It was something about him that she couldn’t figure out.

“But,” he said, breaking the kiss. “I’m sure we can figure something out about your job.” She furrowed her brow in confusion, looking up at him. “I get that you passed on Glo-Tech once, but I may or may not have been talking you up to my bosses and the entire department for the last month and a half.” Raven was motionless for a moment before her face broke out in a smile, laughing.

“You’re such an idiot,” she told him, pressing another kiss to his lips.

“Yeah, but I’m a senior engineer – so they practically take my word as law.” Raven snorted.

“A world where you make the laws is not a world I want to live in,” she replied. Wick laughed, swinging their hands between them.

“Fair enough – neither would I. I’d be a terrible leader. But the point stands. If you want to join Glo-Tech, we can make that happen.”

And suddenly Raven was given the opportunity to redo the last few years of her life, since she stepped out of university and went up North with a boyfriend who she settled for. And Raven, although doesn’t want to forget what brought her to this point, where she could stand, hand in hand with a less intolerable Kyle Wick than she remembered, she’s ready to jump at the chance (and keep Wick while she’s at it).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> This is my first multi-chapter fic I've put up here, so I'm still excited over it. Also, Raven Reyes is a goddess that needs to be appreciated more.
> 
> Please tell me in the comments what you think, and give me kudos and bookmarks out of the good grace of your heart. I have an official tumblr writing blog called sixtyonewordsaminute that I think you should check out, and also tell me what else you want to read from me - if there's any prompts I should use, or another character to focus on.
> 
> You should also tell me how I did on writing emotions - because I'm not great at that, and always need help.
> 
> Thanks again :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading.
> 
> There's another chapter on the way (the entire piece is finished, but I should probably read through the second half to make sure it's not complete crap) and it's all still from Raven's point of view.
> 
> I appreciate all kudos, comments and bookmarks, so please try to hit those buttons and make it a good day for me. And make sure you tell me what you think! I'm not going to get better or write what you actually want to read unless you talk to me!
> 
> UPDATE: I was just re-reading this, and remembered something I forgot to put in here previously. The experience of being the waiting room at the hospital was all very much taken from when I was hit by a car, myself. The girl clutching her wrist, the paramedics suggesting she go into the waiting room instead of the queue. It all actually happens in hospitals, and I really wanted to add something of my own experience in there.
> 
> If you want to prompt me or read anything else I've written (non-fanfiction wise) then I have a new writing-specific tumblr called sixtyonewordsaminute - and my ask is always open.
> 
> Thanks


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